[6,40] Παραλαβὼν δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν Οὐαλέριος καὶ προσελόμενος ἱππάρχην Κόιντον Σερουίλιον, ἀδελφὸν τοῦ συνυπατεύσαντος Ἀππίῳ Σερουιλίου, παρήγγειλε τὸν δῆμον εἰς ἐκκλησίαν παρεῖναι. συνελθόντος δ´ ὄχλου συχνοῦ τότε πρῶτον, ἐξ οὗ τὴν ἀρχὴν ὁ Σερουίλιος ἀπέθετο καὶ ὁ δῆμος ἀγόμενος ἐπὶ τὰς στρατείας εἰς φανερὰν ἀπόνοιαν ἐτράπετο, προελθὼν ἐπὶ τὸ βῆμα ἔλεξεν· Ὦ πολῖται, εὖ ἴσμεν, ὅτι βουλομένοις ὑμῖν ἐστιν ἀεί τινας ἐκ τοῦ Οὐαλερίων γένους ἄρχειν ὑμῶν, ὑφ´ ὧν ἐλεύθεροι τυραννίδος χαλεπῆς γεγόνατε καὶ οὐδενὸς τῶν μετρίων ἀτυχήσειν τάχ´ ἂν ἐπιμείναιτε ὑμᾶς αὐτοὺς ἐπιτρέψαντες τοῖς ἁπάντων δημοτικωτάτοις δοκοῦσι καὶ οὖσιν. ὥστ´ οὐ διδαχῆς ὑμῖν δεομένοις ὅτι βεβαιώσομεν τῷ δήμῳ τὸ ἐλεύθερον, οἵπερ καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς αὐτὸ ἐδώκαμεν, οἱ λόγοι ἔσονται, ἀλλὰ παρακλήσεως μετρίας, ἵνα πιστεύητε ἡμῖν, ὅ τι ἂν ὑποσχώμεθα, ἐμπεδώσειν. ἡλικίας γάρ, ἣ τὸ φενακίζειν ἥκιστα ἐπιδέχεται, ἐπὶ τὸ τέλειον ἥκομεν, καὶ ἀξιώσεως, ἣ τοῦ ῥᾳδιουργεῖν ἐλάχιστον φέρεται μέρος, ἀρκούντως ἔχομεν, χρόνον τε οὐχ ἑτέρωθί που τὸν λειπόμενον βιοτεύειν μέλλομεν, ἀλλ´ ἐν ὑμῖν δίκας, ὧν ἂν ἐξαπατῆσαι δοκῶμεν, ὑφέξοντες. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν, ὥσπερ ἔφην, ὡς οὐ μακρῶν δεόμενος λόγων πρὸς εἰδότας, ἐάσω. ὃ δέ μοι δοκεῖτε παθόντες ὑφ´ ἑτέρων εἰκότως ἐπὶ πάντων ὑποπτεύειν, ὁρῶντες αἰεί τινα τῶν παρακαλούντων ὑμᾶς ἐπὶ τοὺς πολέμους ὑπάτων ὑπισχνούμενον, ὧν ἂν δέησθε, παρὰ τῆς βουλῆς διαπράξεσθαι, μηδὲν δ´ ἐπὶ τέλος ἄγοντα τῶν ὁμολογηθέντων· τοῦτο ὡς οὐ δικαίως ἂν ὑποπτεύοιτε καὶ περὶ ἐμοῦ, δυσὶν ἂν τοῖσδε μάλιστα πιστωσαίμην, τῷ τε μὴ ἂν ἐμοὶ τὴν βουλὴν εἰς τοῦτο τὸ λειτούργημα, ἑτέρων ὄντων {τῶν} ἐπιτηδειοτέρων, τῷ φιλοδημοτάτῳ δοκοῦντι εἶναι καταχρήσασθαι· καὶ τῷ μὴ ἂν αὐτοκράτορι κοσμῆσαι ἀρχῇ, δι´ ἣν τὰ δόξαντά μοι κράτιστα εἶναι καὶ δίχ´ ἐκείνης ἐπικυροῦν δυνήσομαι.

[6,40] After Valerius had assumed office and had appointed Quintus Servilius, a brother of the Servilius who had been the colleague of Appius in the consulship, to be his Master of the Horse, he summoned the people to an assembly. And a great crowd coming together then for the first time since Servilius had resigned his magistracy and the people who were being forced into the service had been driven to open despair, he came forward to the tribunal and said: "Citizens, we are well aware that you are always pleased at being governed by any of the Valerian family, by whom you were freed are a harsh tyranny, and perhaps you would never expect to fail of obtaining anything that was reasonable when once you had entrusted yourselves to those who (p357) are regarded as being, and are, the most democratic of men. So that you to whom my words will be addressed do not need to be informed that we shall confirm to the people the liberty which we bestowed upon them in the beginning, but you need only moderate encouragement to have confidence in us that we shall perform whatever we promise you. For I have attained to that maturity of age which is the least capable of trickiness, and have been sufficiently honoured with public office, which carries it a minimum of shiftiness; and I am not intending to pass the remainder of my life anywhere else but among you, where I shall be ready to stand trial for any deception you may think I have practised against you. Of this, then, I shall speak no further, since, as I have said, no lengthy arguments are needed for those who are acquainted with the facts. But there is one thing which, having suffered from others, you seem with reason to suspect of all: you have ever observed that one or another of the consuls, when they want to engage you to march against the enemy, promises to obtain for you what you desire of the senate, but never carries out any of his promises. That you can have no just grounds for entertaining the same suspicions of me also, I can convince you chiefly by these two considerations: first, that the senate would never have made the mistake of employing me, who am regarded as the greatest friend of the people, for this service, when there are others better suited to it, and second, that they would not have honoured me with an absolute magistracy by which I shall be able to enact whatever I think best, even without their participation.